Food & Agribusiness Institute

SCU Students take First Place at IFAMA Case Competition

Congratulations to Alvin Chen, Tina Cosentino, Ngoc Dao, Michael Billikopf, and Zach Wise for taking First Place in the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association’s Annual Case Study Competition! The team, who are all SCU MBA students, traveled to Atlanta, Georgia in June to compete in the competition.

The IFAMA International Student Case Competition is one of many features of the IFAMA annual world conference. The Competition provides an opportunity for MBA students to participate in a simulated analysis of a business management problem. The students have a chance to apply their MBA skills and education while networking with like-minded students and businesspeople. The competition requires the students to know the strengths and weaknesses of their team members and requires independent thinking as well as teamwork and collaboration.

The 2013 Competition brought together students from a number of different countries, providing participants with a diverse and enriching experience. The 22 teams worked for four hours on the first case, digesting the case, developing a creative and practical solution, and building a presentation that accurately communicated their analysis and recommendations. A panel of judges deliberated over the different solutions and narrowed the pool down to four finalist.

The final four teams included Santa Clara, University of Hawaii, Wageningen University, and Nanjing University. The top four teams proceeded to the second round and completed another case study analysis. The Santa Clara team triumphed in the second round and took home First Place! FAI is thrilled by the efforts of the SCU IFAMA team and is excited to see what else the bright students will do in the future, both at Santa Clara and beyond!

Check out what the students had to say after the competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEOlsQzhGbE